David Sweet's son wants to run in the Hamilton riding that borders his father's

David Sweet's son wants to run in the Hamilton riding that borders his father's

David Sweet and his son hope to become a rare instance of father/son MPs. Two years from now, MP David Sweet will run again in Flamborough-Glanbrook, while his son Chris hopes to run in the neighbouring riding.

'There are obviously going to be some similarities. We're running for the same party. He's my son'

"I’ll take help wherever I can get it, but I'm going to focus on my own campaign," says Chris Sweet, who wants to run for the Conservatives in Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas in the 2019 federal election. He's the son of David Sweet, who represents the neighbouring riding. (Chris Sweet campaign)

David Sweet and his son hope to become a rare instance of father/son MPs. Two years from now, MP David Sweet will run again in Flamborough-Glanbrook, while his son Chris hopes to run in the neighbouring riding.

Chris Sweet, 33, launched his nomination campaign last week. He wants to run in Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas under the Conservative banner in the 2019 federal election.

His dad has been a Hamilton-area Conservative MP since 2006, and will run again in 2019.

Chris Sweet "wants to make sure, and rightly so, that he differentiates himself," said David Sweet, 60.

"There are obviously going to be some similarities. We're running for the same party. He's my son."

But "he'll be running his own campaign, and of course, dealing with constituents who are entirely separate from Flamborough-Glanbrook."

If both Sweets won in two years, it wouldn't be Canada's first case of a dad and son serving in the House of Commons at the same time. In the 1970s, Réal Caouette of the now-defunct Social Credit party served at the same time as his son Gilles.

Chris Sweet said he's not really thinking about any of that.

"It's neither here nor there," he said. "I'm just going to work hard."

Younger Sweet will have a tougher battle

Chris Sweet lived in Ancaster — where his dad still lives — for 17 years, and lives on the west Mountain now with his wife Annie.

One of five Sweet kids, Chris owns a business planning, hosting and directing music for events. He's also acted in numerous local theatre roles.

David Sweet's riding of Flamborough-Glanbrook is more solidly Conservative than the riding his son hopes to tackle. The elder Sweet won the riding with 43.5 per cent of the vote in 2015. That was nearly 3,000 votes ahead of Liberal Jennifer Stebbing, who has already said she wants to run again.

Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas, meanwhile, is Liberal right now, and most parts of it are red provincially as well. Liberal Filomena Tassi defeated Conservative Vincent Samuel in the 2015 federal election by nearly 10,000 votes, or 47.68 per cent of the vote.

A local provincial PC candidate is connected to David Sweet too. Ben Levitt works in Sweet's office and will run for the Ontario PC party against Liberal Ted McMeekin in Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas in June.

About the Author

Samantha Craggs

Reporter

Samantha Craggs is a CBC News reporter based in Hamilton, Ont. She has a particular interest in politics and social justice stories, and tweets live from Hamilton city hall. Follow her on Twitter at @SamCraggsCBC, or email her at samantha.craggs@cbc.ca